Kentucky Basketball: What’s wrong with the Wildcats?

After losing their fourth consecutive game on Wednesday night, John Calipari and the Kentucky Wildcats are in unfamiliar territory.

Boasting the best freshman in the country and tearing through the competition is what head coach John Calipari is accustomed to since arriving in Lexington nine years ago. He’s coached them to seven NCAA tournament bids – four times winning 30 or more games – and twice the Wildcats made the National Championship; Kentucky won it all in 2011-12.

And anybody whose anybody gets drafted.

Future-NBA superstars John Wall and DeMarcus Cousiins shared the court in 2010 before Anthony Davis led the way during Kentucky’s 2011 championship season. Let’s not forget the ~~undefeated~~ 38-1 Wildcats in 2014 with Karl-Anthony Towns and Devin Booker. That’s a starting lineup for a championship contender in the NBA – all from one school in the last decade.

Aside from the generational talent Calipari ushers into Kentucky, he’s able to land players from the next tier of top players, too. Guys like Eric Bledsoe, Willie Cauley-Stein, De’Aaron Fox, Brandon Knight, Trey Lyles, Malik Monk, Jamal Murray, Patrick Patterson, Julius Randle and Tyler Ulis are all still carving out their own niche in the NBA.

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So what’s wrong with this current Kentucky Wildcats’ roster? They’ve turned in back-to-back No. 2 recruiting classes (according to 247sports) and recruited the No. 1 class in 2015 headlined by Skal Labissiere and Jamal Murray. Most of those players have chased greener pastures, but both Wenyen Gabriel and Sacha Killeya-Jones returned this year for their sophomore campaigns.

Gabriel and Killeya-Jones were top-25 recruits out of high school, but only averaged about 8 points and 7 rebounds combined as freshmen. Another year under Calipari’s tutelage combined with six top-30 recruits in the 2017 class had Wildcat fans salivating at the possibilities for this season.

Freshman Kevin Knox has impressed, even flashing brilliance at times. Against West Virginia in Morgantown, Knox poured in a season-high 34 points while connecting on 5 three pointers. He added 7 rebounds, including four on the offensive end. And they got the win! Knox is averaging 15.2 points per game and consistently scores in double figures.

Three more freshman average double-digit points for Kentucky, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (12.9), Hamidou Diallo (11.2) and PJ Washington (10.0), but Gilgeous-Alexander is the only one to average more than 3.0 assists on the entire team.

College teams shouldn’t be expected to have multiple players average high assist totals, but it would certainly help the Wildcats’ offense, who happens to have a rating of 106.4 (134th of 351).

We must also take into account the opposition, which Kentucky’s been faced with a tough road all season long. Their Strength of Schedule (SOS) ranks second in the country out of 351 teams. So if you’re a Kentucky fan wondering why your team is having a, “down year,” I’ve got two things for you:

You can’t realistically expect to win 30 + games a season; Calipari’s achieved this four times at UK in 8 years
Your schedule is tough!

There’s not much time to add to their resume, but with five games remaining and the SEC Tournament approaching, the Wildcats could get on a roll at just the right time. Because that’s what it’s all about, really. “Are you playing your best basketball around tournament time?”

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The Wildcats look to break their four-game losing streak Saturday when Alabama travels to Lexington. Tip-off is scheduled for 2 p.m. ET at Rupp Arena and the game will be nationally televised on CBS.